The Subterraneans (Film version)
with Mary Tyler Moore]] "These are The Subterraneans Today's Young Rebels - Who live and love in a world of their own this is their story told to the hot rhythms of fabulous jazz!" -Advertisement for The Subterraneans movie, June 23 1960. Jack Kerouac in the movies On the Road (film) is finally a movie, haven't seen it yet but remember well the many tries Hollywood has made at catching the Jack Kerouac magic on film... like the bizarre sight of a white Mardou Fox (African American and Cherokee in Jack's novella) played by Leslie Caron (Dorothy Dandridge and Diahann Carroll were also considered for the role) with George Peppard as Jack. Mardou was based on the real person, Alene Lee (1931–1991) was an African-American member of the Beat generation in New York City whose romantic relationship with Jack Kerouac was the central theme in the novel The Subterraneans. Kerouac used the pseudonym Mardou Fox for Lee. Lee was also the model for the character of Irene May in Book of Dreams and Big Sur.). Jim Hutton played the Allen Ginsberg character, Roddy McDowall played the Gregory Corso character, Artie Johnson played the Gore Vidal character, Janice Rule played Roxanne, and Anne Seymour played Kerouac's mother. The film was directed by''' Ranald MacDougall. Kerouac's writing was adapted into a screenplay by Robert Thom in 1958, after Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer paid Jack Kerouac $15,000 for the rights to his book. Kerouac used the money to buy a house in Long Island. Kerouac claimed to hate the finished film and seemed horrified at the result, his viewing of the film sent him off on a drinking binge that he never recovered from, dying nine years later. The IMDB gives details on the making of, and ultimate failure, of this ambitious visualization of Kerouac's epic Dulouz Legend: "...The 1960 movie of "The Subterraneans", made by a top studio with top talent, proved to be a major disappointment as it grossly misrepresented the scene (as well as Kerouac's novel), but ironically, it is probably the premier movie about the Beats, as so few "Beat Generation" movies were made, the phenomenon occurring during a time of strict screen censorship in the United States. By the time censorship was lifted in 1968, the Beats had been supplanted by the Hippies. Other Jack Kerouac and Beat related films *Neal Cassady and his friendship with Jack Kerouac were portrayed in John Byrum's film, Heart Beat, starring Nick Nolte as Cassady and John Heard as Kerouac. The film was based on Carolyn Cassady's memoir of the same name. Released in 1980 immediately after Warner Bros. acquired Orion Pictures, the film was given a limited release due to studio politics and a perceived lack of public interest, and the film quickly fell from view. Talk show host Steve Allen, who was a big supporter of On The Road appears briefly as himself. The film is about seminal figures in the Beat Generation. The character of Ira, played by Ray Sharkey, is based on Allen Ginsberg. *The film Who'll Stop The Rain (1978) is a psychological drama released by United Artists. The film is based on Robert Stone's novel Dog Soldiers. This film also starred Nick Nolte. Stone based the character of Ray Hicks (Nolte) on Beat writer Cassady, with whom Stone became acquainted through novelist Kesey, a classmate of Stone's in graduate school at Stanford University. Hicks' death scene on the railroad tracks at the film's conclusion was directly based on Cassady's death along a railroad track outside of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico in 1968. *The film The Last Time I Committed Suicide (1997), with Thomas Jane as Cassady, is based on the "Joan Anderson letter" written by Cassady to Jack Kerouac in December 1950. Although much of this letter had been lost, a surviving remnant was originally published in a 1964 edition of John Bryan's magazine Notes from Underground. *A 2007 short film, Luz Del Mundo, deals with Cassady's friendship and adventures with Jack Kerouac. Cassady is played by Austin Nichols and Kerouac is played by Will Estes.IMDB title *The biopic Neal Cassady, was also released in 2007.IMDB entry This film focuses more on the Prankster years and stars Tate Donovan as Neal, Amy Ryan as Carolyn Cassady, Chris Bauer as Kesey, and Glenn Fitzgerald as Kerouac. Noah Buschel wrote and directed the film. The film deals primarily with how Neal became trapped by his fictional alter-ego, Dean Moriarty. The Cassady family criticized this film as highly inaccurate.http://www.nealcassadyestate.com/carolyn.html, retrieved 28 August 2007 *Cassady is portrayed by Jon Prescott in the 2010 film, Howl, which chronicles the creation of the poem "Howl" by Allen Ginsberg and the obscenity trial surrounding its publication. *In the film Across the Universe (2007), the character Dr. Robert, played by Bono, is said to have been inspired by Neal Cassady.http://www.spinner.com/2007/09/13/bono-plays-doctor-in-across-the-universe/ *In the documentary film Love Always, Carolyn - A film about Kerouac, Cassady and Me (2011), featured in archive footage. Also features interviews with his wife Carolyn and children. *Cassady appears in Alex Gibney's Magic Trip (2011) a documentary film using the footage shot by Kesey and the Merry Pranksters during their cross-country bus trip in the "Further" bus. The hyperkinetic Cassady is frequently seen driving the bus, jabbering, and sitting next to a sign that boasts, "Neal gets things done." *In the 2012 dramatic adaptation of On the Road by Walter Salles, Neal Cassady/Dean Moriarty is portrayed by Garrett Hedlund. George Peppard as Kerouac "George Peppard played a bohemian... He loved playing roles that were not the norm. He enjoyed a role that was different. At this time, George himself, was quite the bohemian. He had lived in Greenwich Village among the artists, writers, and Beatnik philosophers of his time. This was familiar territory to George. So here he is... The young and handsome George Peppard in rare footage from his first major starring role, in "The Subterraneans" with his co-star, Leslie Caron..." -From the YouTube page Barry Miles, in his 1999 biography "King of the Beats", writes that Kerouac named the character modeled after himself in The Subterraneans "Leo Percepeid." Leo is his father's name, and Percepied translates literally to wounded (or "pierced") foot. Oedipus, as a baby, was ritually wounded on the foot and left to die before being saved, then growing up and slaying his father and bedding his mother. Wikipedia on The Subterraneans film "I go through men as other women go through money. I'm a spendthrift with men ... I want so badly to be a miser!" -Mardou Fox A 1960 film adaptation changed the African American character Mardou Fox, Kerouac's love interest, to a young French girl (played by Leslie Caron) to better fit both contemporary social and Hollywood palates. While it was derided and vehemently criticized by Allen Ginsberg among others, for its two-dimensional characters, it illustrates the way the film industry attempted to exploit the emerging popularity of this culture as it grew in San Francisco and Greenwich Village, New York. A Greenwich Village beatnik bar setting had been used in Richard Quine's film Bell, Book and Candle (1958), but Ranald MacDougall's adaptation of Kerouac's novel, scripted by Robert Thom, was less successful. The Subterraneans was one of the final MGM films produced by Arthur Freed, and features a score by André Previn and brief appearances by jazz singer Carmen McRae singing "Coffee Time," and saxophonists Gerry Mulligan, as a street priest, and Art Pepper. Comedian Arte Johnson plays the Gore Vidal character, here named Arial Lavalerra. The film recorded a loss of $1,311,000. Jack Kerouac's original novella ''The Subterraneans''' is a 1958 novella by Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac. It is a semi-fictional account of his short romance with an African American woman named Alene Lee (1931-1991) in San Francisco in 1953.Wills, David (ed.), Beatdom Vol 6, City of Recovery Press, 2010 In the novel she is renamed "Mardou Fox," and described as a carefree spirit who frequents the jazz clubs and bars of the budding Beat scene of San Francisco. Other well-known personalities and friends from the author's life also appear thinly disguised in the novel. The character Frank Carmody is based on William S. Burroughs and Adam Moorad on Allen Ginsberg. Even Gore Vidal appears as successful novelist Arial Lavalina. Kerouac's alter ego is named Leo Percepied, and his long-time friend Neal Cassady is mentioned only in passing as Leroy. Kerouac's Ideas on Film ''I'm praying that you'll buy ON THE ROAD and make a movie of it. Don't worry about the structure, I know to compress and re-arrange the plot a bit to give a perfectly acceptable movie-type structure: making it into one all-inclusive trip instead of the several voyages coast-to-coast in the book, one vast round trip from New York to Denver to Frisco to Mexico to New Orleans to New York again. I visualize the beautiful shots could be made with the camera on the front seat of the car showing the road (day and night) unwinding into the windshield, as Sal and Dean yak. I wanted you to play the part because Dean (as you know) is no dopey hotrodder but a real intelligent (in fact Jesuit) Irishman. You play Dean and I'll play Sal (Warner Bros. mentioned I play Sal) and I'll show you how Dean acts in real life ... What I wanta do is re-do the theater and the cinema in America, give it a spontaneous dash, remove pre-conceptions of "Situation" and let people rave on as they do in real life. That's what the play is: no plot in particular, no "meaning in particular, just the way people are. -jack kerouac in a letter to Marlon Brando on a proposed On the Road (film). ]] Criticism and literary significance The novel, written as a first-person memoir, has been criticized for its portrayal of American minority groups, especially African Americans, in a superficial light, often portraying them in a humble and primitive manner without showing insight into their culture or social position at the time. The position of jazz and jazz culture is central to the novel, tying together the themes of Kerouac's writing here as elsewhere, and expressed in the "spontaneous prose" style in which he composed most of his works. The following quotation from Chapter 1 illustrates the spontaneous prose style of The Subterraneans: Mardou: Soundtrack Music of The Subterraneans Interestingly, while the content, the script adaptation and the acting of The Subterraneans failed to capture Kerouac's spirit, the Andre Previn soundtrack, and later LP album (now on Compact Disc reissue) had to have given Kerouac a smile, through the pain of the crud he watched onscreen. The progressive jazz soundtrack has become recognized among the jazz world one of the all-time best soundtrack records thanks to the Beat hipster understanding of composer and conductor by André Previn. Andre Previn composed his song Guido's Blackhawk for the original score of the movie "The Subterraneans" (1959, MGM), based on the novel by Jack Kerouac, a West Coast Bop with Latin elements. This was performed by Andre Previn trio, with Previn on piano, Red Mitchell on bass and Shelly Manne on drums. Coffee Time, also written for the film, was sung by Carmen McRae. Other notable Jazz artists who played on the album were of world class in their genre: Gerry Mulligan (who also acted in the film), Carmen McRae, Shelly Manne, Red Mitchell, Buddy Clark, Dave Bailey, Art Pepper, Russ Freeman, Bill Perkins, Bob Enevoldsen, and Jack Sheldon. With these virtuoso hipsters blowing hot and cool, Previn mixed jazz source cues with the romantic aesthetic of the Hollywood symphonic style to stunning effect. -Allmusic.com The newly reissued Subterraneans soundtrack CD runs over 79 minutes: the original album program followed a new program of bonus selections, containing all of the previously released music. The Subterraneans / Music Composed and Conducted by André Previn / Album Program *Main Title (Why Are We Afraid?) 1:57 *Source No. 1 (Guido's Blackhawk) 3:05 *Two by Two/Leo and His Mama 4:00 *Bread and Wine 4:12 *Coffee Time 2:44 *A Rose and the End 3:25 *Should I 2:29 *Look Ma! No Clothes! 1:33 *Things Are Looking Down 7:22 *Analyst/I'm Leo/Yuri and Leo 4:19 *Balloon (Like Blue) 1:57 *Alarm Clock (Raising Caen) 3:04 Bonus Tracks: *Leo and Mardou 3:30 *Main Title/New Prologue 2:10 *Spaghetti Factory 2:29 *Source No. 2 3:20 *Togetherness 3:42 *Trip to the Moon 2:22 *Leo in Bar 3:14 *Roxanne at Ariel's 3:47 *Red Drum Blues 4:25 *What Do You Need/I Want to Wait/Eyes to Split/Yuri Asleep 2:26 *The Square's Pad 3:18 *Red Drum Blues (alternate) 4:06 Total Time: 39:17 Total Disc Time: 79:56 Character Key Kerouac often based his fictional characters on friends and family.Sandison, Daivd. Jeck Kerouac: An Illustrated Biography. Chicago: Chicago Review Press. 1999Who’s Who: A Guide to Kerouac’s Characters See Also *On the Road (film) External Links *Subterraneans Soundtrack *Review of Andre Previn soundtrack *Andre Previn Soundtrack Album